If you consider where Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was drafted (fourth round), he’s far exceeded expectations. But when you play for the Dallas Cowboys and you’re now making $40 million per year to lead “America’s Team,” being just solid isn’t good enough.
Even while boasting a 53-32 career record as a starter, some folks still aren’t sold on Prescott as a top-tier quarterback. One of those naysayers is Pro Football Hall of Famer and FS1 personality Shannon Sharpe. The three-time Super Bowl-winning tight end says Prescott’s performance has been average at best.
In a recent segment on “Undisputed,” Sharpe shared his thoughts on the former “Hail State” quarterback.
“My eyes tell me that Dak is a middle-of-the-pack quarterback. I think you will agree with me on a lot of this stuff. Dak did not look like top-tier for the last part of the season. He has some games. You look at what he did against Tampa. You look at that great game that he had in overtime against the New England Patriots.”
The vocal Sharpe didn’t stop there. He basically destroyed all the hype Prescott has gotten over the years.
“Dak benefited from playing in a bad, bad division. He went 6-0 in the NFC East. Seventeen touchdowns and three interceptions. Against everyone else. He was 5-6, 21 touchdowns, eight interceptions. And we saw what happened in the postseason. We’ve seen this far too many times.”
https://youtu.be/Khg0RzE6cvg
Prescott Has Been Good In Regular Season, Tapered Off In Postseason
When you play for the Dallas Cowboys there’s always immense pressure to perform. And while Prescott has done a good job in the regular season — 67 percent completion percentage and a 99.0 quarterback rating — his level of performance drops significantly to a 61 percent completion percentage and 88.0 quarterback rating in the postseason. That would also explain Prescott’s playoff record of 1-3, including home losses to the Niners and Packers as the higher seed.
And it didn’t help matters seeing Bengals second-year quarterback Joe Burrow lead the Bengals on a surprising Super Bowl run. In fact, Twitter was unrelenting in its comparison of the two.
Sharpe isn’t the only talking head who feels Dak is overrated and underproductive.
Dak Has Feasted On A Bad NFC East
During his time as the quarterback of the Cowboys, Prescott has feasted on a terrible NFC East. He’s 25-6 against his division and 28-26 against everyone else. That’s another reason Sharpe doesn’t consider him to be more than a mediocre quarterback. Since Dak arrived in 2016, the Cowboys have won the NFC East three of those six seasons.
Prescott’s regular season career numbers look great with over 22,000 passing yards, 143 touchdowns and just 50 interceptions, including a career-high 37 touchdown passes in 2021.
His two best seasons came in 2019 and 2021 when he had wide receiver Amari Cooper, who was traded to the Cleveland Browns this offseason. It’ll be interesting to see how he performs without his most dangerous weapon on the offense.
While most of Dak’s struggles have come against the top competition, his stats say he’s a solid QB and, until proved wrong, the best in his division. At worst, he’s a top 10-12 signal caller in the league. A couple of playoff wins and he’s elevated into the top eight to five.
